Oath of Hippocrates, Traditional Version

(Translated from the Greek Original)

"Above All, Do No Harm"

I swear by Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius, and Hygeia, and Panacea and
all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, which I will fulfill,
according to my ability and judgment, this Oath and covenant:

To hold him, who has taught me this art, as equal to my parents, and to live
my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a
share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male
lineage, and to teach them this art if they desire to learn it without fee and
covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other
learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me, and to pupils
who have signed the covenant and who have taken an oath according to the medical
law, but to no one else.

I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my
ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make
a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive
remedy. In purity and holiness, I will guard my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw
in favor of such men as are [skilled] in this work.

Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick,
remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief, and in particular
of sexual relations with both male and female persons, be they free or slaves.

What I may see or hear in the course of treatment or even outside of the
treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account [ought to be] spread
abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.

If I fulfill this Oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to
enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come;
if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

Hippocratic Oath, Modern
Version

(Written in 1964 by Louis
Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used
in many medical schools today)

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my
ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps
I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required,
avoiding those twin traps of over-treatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that
warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the
chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my
colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed
to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters
of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also
be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced
with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not
play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a
sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic
stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care
adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to
all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live
and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the
finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing
those who seek my help.

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